1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to automated picking devices for picking fruit and more particularly, to an automated picking device for picking large fruit with stems such as oranges, apples and the like.
2. Background Of The Invention
The use of automated machinery in farming has resulted in high crop yields and minimum labor costs and has resulted in low cost fruit and vegetables products to be available throughout the world. The prior art has successfully automated the planting, irrigation, fertilization and the application of insecticides to various types of crops. Although the aforementioned procedures have been highly automated in the farming industry, the task of picking or removing fruit from the tree has heretofore not been successfully automated for many types of fruit and vegetables crops. Once the crop is manually picked, the farming industry has automated the processing of fruits and vegetables for transportation or for packaging for retail sales.
The task of removing fruit or vegetables from a tree or plant has heretofore not been totally resolved by the prior art due a number of problems existing in the removal process. First, the fruit must be removed in an automated fashion without damage to the fruit or vegetable. Secondly, the fruit must be removed without damage to the tree or plant producing the fruit or vegetable. Third, the automated picking apparatus must be of such a character as to be extremely mobile enabling the automated machinery or apparatus to remove fruit or vegetables located or distributed about the various positions of the tree or plant. Although the automated picking devices of the prior art have been able to successfully remove fruit or vegetables from a plant or tree without damage to the fruit or vegetable or without damage to the plant or tree, the apparatuses have been overly complex and bulky. Accordingly, these automated devices have not obtained the mobility required for the rapid removable of fruit or vegetables from a tree or plant in an automated process. Furthermore, many of these devices have not been successful in picking or removing substantially all of the fruit or vegetables from the tree or plant due to the lack of mobility of the apparatus. Accordingly, the fruit or vegetables remaining on the plant or tree must be picked or removed in a manual fashion, thus adding to the labor costs of producing the fruit or vegetable to market.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,796 to McCray et al. discloses a fruit picker having an adjustably mounted picker head adapted to rotate in a first direction while individual gripping rollers carried by the head rotate in an opposite direction to grip and twist fruit free as the head is advanced into the foliage of the tree. The apparatus incorporates comb-like members to initially received and direct the fruit.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,772 to Miller discloses a fruit harvester carried by a tractor to pick a fruit from a tree comprising a reel having transversely extending bars that engage the fruit. The bars cooperate with a stationery shearing bar to sever the stems of the fruit after the fruit has been gathered by the fingers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,973 to Glover discloses a fruit picking apparatus comprising a hollow, cylindrical housing enclosing a spiral auger with a fruit infeed opening provided at one end of the housing adjacent the spiral auger. A first discharge outlet is provided at the opposite end of the housing adjacent the spiral auger. A stripper flange is defined in the outer edge of the spiral auger adjacent the fruit infeed opening for engaging the fruit and removing the fruit so that continuous rotation of the spiral auger the fruit and stem is removed and subsequently discharged through the discharge output.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,631 to Haines discloses a fruit picking device having a rotatable assembly having a plurality of outstanding fingers spaced along an elongated drum. The elongated drum is rotated such that the fingers will contact fruit to be picked from a tree or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,608 to Wilcox discloses a fruit picking apparatus comprising an adjustable boom assembly having a picker head having a rotor with a plurality of picking fingers extending therefrom. The picking fingers pick the fruit upon rotation of the rotor for discharge through a conveyor system collector receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,790 to Tyros shows a power actuated picking head mounted on an elongated handle for picking olives or similar fruit. The picking head comprises a power rotated rake-like member for raking the fruit into a hopper for discharge through a shoot into a collector.
Although the aforementioned prior art has attempted to automate the fruit picking process, none of the prior art devices has automated the process of picking fruit in a simple, reliable and efficient manner.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fruit picking device which overcomes the problems of the prior art and provides a substantially improvement to the fruit picking art.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree comprising a rotatable member having a plurality of picking arms which is light-weight and may be mounted on a coupling boom of conventional design for use with a mobile vehicle.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for picking fruit from a tree. The apparatus may be controlled and manipulated by an operator within a mobile vehicle.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree wherein the apparatus does not damage the fruit or the tree during the removal process.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree incorporating a plurality of uniquely contoured picking arms for removing and retaining the picked fruit and for enabling the migration of fruit from the picking arms into a collector.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree which may be manufactured at a modest cost.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree which is simple, reliable and efficient and may be readily repaired without specialized equipment.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree wherein the apparatus is light-weight and may be rapidly manipulated on a coupling boom for picking the fruit dispersed about a tree.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for removing fruit from a tree wherein the apparatus will not be jammed in the unlikely event that a branch of the tree is severed during the picking process.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed as being merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention with in the scope of the invention. Accordingly other objects in a full understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the detailed description describing the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.